Taxes

A tax or "duty" is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity.

Taxes may be part of a direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as labor. In modern, capitalist taxation systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents.

The means of taxation, and the uses to which the funds raised through taxation should be put, are a matter of hot dispute in politics and economics, so discussions of taxation are frequently tendentious.

Public finance is the field of political science / economics that deals with taxation.

When planning for taxes, we usually think of the Federal filing deadline of April 15, however, you are required to pay taxes throughout the year. Paying the right amounts throughout the year will save you from having to pay penalty charges for underpayments.

Throughout the year, there are important tips to follow in order to prepare for your taxes. First of all, get organized. Experts recommend the use of personal finance software to enter and maintain accurate records. Keep records of expenses such as automobile mileage incurred for business purposes and get receipts for charitable contributions. It is also very important that you maintain accurate records of the purchasing and selling of stock as well as stock options.

For most people, the payments we make throughout the year are made on our behalf through our employers. Employers automatically withhold taxes from our gross earnings before giving us our net earnings, the little numbers on our paychecks (or big numbers for you lucky ones). Your employer is also responsible for reporting your total income and taxes paid by submitting form W-2 to the IRS. You must then file your taxes-which tells you the total amount of taxes owed and the total amount of taxes already paid-and either pay the difference (if your automatic deductions were too small) or collect the difference (if your automatic deductions were too big).

You may have heard before that you should contribute the maximum to your 401(k) retirement plan ( 401(k)). Doing so will let you defer the taxes you pay on your contributions and will allow your contributions to increase through compound interest. Adjust your withholdings if your marital status changes or if you are in a different tax bracket than the previous year. If sufficient taxes are not withheld from your paychecks, or if you are self-employed, make estimated tax payments to the appropriate tax authority to avoid year-end penalties.

Make contributions to your IRA as early as possible in the year due to the benefits of compound interest ( IRAs). Also, consider tax-efficient investments such as tax-free municipal bonds or tax-efficient mutual funds ( Municipal Bonds, Mutual Funds).

The Roman Empire, developed the tax farming as the central powers could not practically enforce their tax policy across a wide realm. The tax farmers were obligated to raise large sums for the government, but were allowed to keep whatever else they raised. Christians support the payment of taxes, through Jesus's words "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". There ase a "telos" duty on merchandise or travelers (Matthew 17:25), an annual "phoros" on property tax (Luke 20:22;23:2), a "kensos" or poll tax (Matthew 22:17, Mark 12:14), or the tribute money of a temple-tax (Matthew 17:24-27).

Many taxes were originally introduced to fund wars and are still in place today For example the American government introduced war taxes during the American Civil War (1861-1865) The telephone tax was instigated at the start of World War I (War Tax Revenue Act of 1914). Income tax was first introduced into Britain in 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars and into Canada in 1917 as a "temporary" tax under the Income War Tax Act to cover government expenses resulting from World War I.